The last two weekends have revived spirits and done much to rescue what was a below par first half to the season. Two wins in the Premier Division mean the 1st XI are now in a very strong position to be above the line [see last post] when the league splits after the first round of matches are finished after two more rounds.
The 2nd XI powered through to a Senior II Cup Final with an impressive win over Pembroke 2nd XI, a match that saw best ever bowling figures from skipper Hugh Kennedy [6/34] and a maiden half century at adult level from Jan Dijkstra [61*]. Wins for the 4th and 6th XI in their T20 competitions means that they are both through to the final stages. Even the narrow one run defeat by the 3rd XI, following a fighting [76] from stand in captain Nitin Sharma [also a maiden half century in his 244th match], raises hopes for better times in the second half of the season. But none of this should hide what is a worrying decline in the overall strength of our Open teams in recent years.
The best way to gauge this is to compare league positions. For many years Merrion had the highest combined league ranking of teams across the Open Divisions based on the top three, four and five teams in clubs. While our first three teams have just about held their own, we have dropped from 1st to 6th in the club rankings for the top five teams.
Looking at the figures over a 15 year period we can see that our top three teams have held their own but that there has been a sharp fall in the position of our 4th – 6th XI. Some of this reflects the dynamic of new clubs entering the league which have tended to push down teams from the longer established clubs. There was also a voluntary re-assignment to lower divisions by Merrion in 2025. But the drop in performance over the past three years is still a concern.
Alongside this we see a fall-off in the number players taking part in Open Competitions for Merrion. While there is still time for players to be added this season, the number who have turned out so far at 88 is well down on 2025 [104] and 2024 [119].
Despite the use of large numbers of youth players and some from the women’s section, it has been a struggle to get out teams with a reasonable number of experienced players competitive within the Divisions they at playing in. The positive side of this is that we have been able to blood more youth players [there have been five debuts of youth players so far this year] and some excellent performances. But too often there has been a mis-match in standard as young players have come up against much stronger adults. A problem compounded where games are played on mats in grounds with heavy outfields.
It is a challenge getting the balance right between younger players and adults on a team, but it is one that the club needs to get right. The return to the colours of a few experienced hands in recent weeks is a positive development. But beyond this there is probably little that can be done mid-season. But it is something that should get due attention at the end of the year as part of the future planning for the club.
For anyone interested the top ranked sides [1st Xi to 6th XI] at the moment and the cumulative results for the first three teams are set out in the tables below.
